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Magnus Carlsen took his third Chess Oscar in a row. The Oscar was instituted as an annual award in 1967 for the player of the year. It is voted by a large jury of player and an accurate barometer of respect. Carlsen, Korchnoi and Bent Larsen, are the only non-world champions among the winners.

However, impressive as Carlsen's feat may be, it is nowhere near a record. The Super Ks and Fischer had long periods of dominance. Karpov won five times from 1973-1977 and thrice between 1979-81. Fischer did the hat-trick in 1970-72 and Kasparov took it four times (1985-88). Kasparov won it 11 times in all, Karpov 9 times and Anand has 6. Other winners include Spassky, Kramnik and Topalov.

Incidentally, the 61-year-old Karpov remains a formidable rapid and blitz player. He recently won the Cap D'Agde Rapid in France, topping a double round-robin to qualify for a knockout where he beat Romain Edouard and Ivanchuk. In a marathon final, Karpov and Ivanchuk traded wins at rapids and then, Karpov won a set of six blitz games, 3.5-2.5.

Ivanchuk is playing at the King's Tournament in Bucharest. This is a sadly truncated Grand Prix – it was postponed and Carlsen and Anand dropped out. It's a double-round-robin with Caruana top seeded ahead of Ivanchuk, Topalov, and Nisipeanu. After the opening round, Ivanchuk leads with a win against the latter, while Caruana found a fantastic defence to hold Topalov.

The Diagram, BLACK TO PLAY, (Topalov Vs Caruana Kings, Bucharest 2012) is very obscure. White’s better due to his strong pawn centre, despite king exposure. Black’s king is also unsafe since 25.--Kh7 26. h5! and 25.--Qf7 26. f5 are both terrible.